From the Ground Up
by TailsMoon
Summary: It's just after Ed is sent to the other side of the gate. It's an interesting toll that the Truth took however. Ed hardly has no time to recover from what happened before everything goes wrong. World/Dimension/Time hopping.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anything Fullmetal Alchemist related isn't mine. The plot is partly mine, but it's based off of various books and movies, namely Paprika (movie) and Homeward Bounders (if that's the title of the book… it's been a while).

Oh, and I make fun of Kansas a lot. I'm allowed to. I'm a Kansan… well I was for most of my life. Most of my family is from Kansas too.

* * *

To Edward Elric, anything could happen. He knew that and he had accepted it long ago, or maybe it hadn't been that long at all, but either way he knew it with his entire being. The unbelievable had occurred when his Father had left, when his friend's parents were killed, his mother died… He met Izumi Curtis and her husband, Roy Mustang, Nina Tucker, and so many others that he couldn't name them all. He'd created a homunculus and then got rid of it and others. His brother had lost his body, become a Philosopher's Stone. His brother gave up his life for him and he in return tried one final time, offering his entire being, to keep his brother alive.

All of that had just been just a small amount of what could really happen to Edward Elric.

* * *

Edward's POV

I knew it the moment I woke up. I was on the other side of the gate once again but this time I was in my own body. Somehow I still had my arm and leg. It was as if the Truth hadn't taken a single thing. I laid on my back staring at the sky for a long time. I was in the middle of some field, who knew how far away from anything. I could have checked, but I just didn't feel like it. In fact, I felt pretty numb.

"_I guess it didn't work…_"

A large something moved closer to me. I shifted my gaze to look at it instead of the sky.

"A cow." I laughed, the idea striking me as funny. I was laying in some field a whole world away with a curious cow. "AH!" I yelled, it's cold tongue suddenly sticking out and licking me on my hip. I hadn't realized that I didn't have any clothes on.

The numb feeling vanished as I stood up, slightly worried about the condition I'd just realized I'd been in.

I muttered to myself as I walked quickly away from the cow as it began to move closer, readying its tongue for another lick. "What would Al think?"

Not far off was a farmhouse. Figuring I could get help there I headed towards it.

"_I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be too pleased if I show up on their doorstep naked… I'm not even pleased about it._"

I clapped my hands. A cheep material made from grass would have to do. As my hands hit the ground there wasn't even a spark of alchemical energy.

"Oh shit." I hit my face, trying to snap myself completely out of the fog that was clouding my head. I couldn't believe I hadn't remembered that alchemy didn't exist here. I'd just been here not that long ago and it wasn't an experience that should have been easy to forget.

I shivered as a cold wind blew by. My newly retrieved arm and leg were even colder than the rest of me. I started walking towards the farmhouse again, not really caring if I was naked or not. There wasn't much I could do about it right now anyways it seemed. The farmers would just have to deal with it because I wasn't about to stand out here and freeze to death.

It was unlucky that the farmer's wife was the one to answer the door. I had tried to cover myself as much as possible, but she still screamed bloody murder in my face.

Her husband came out with a shotgun in hand, firing past her at me.

I screamed at him as I dodged out of the doorway. "I'm sorry for showing up like this! I really am! Please, I just need some help!"

The farmer came out of the doorway, still aiming at me. He wasn't firing this time at least.

My pride, being shot as it was anyways, I begged, "Could you at least give me a pair of pants or something? If not, could you let me have some bread maybe? Or… how about the nearest town… where is it?" I was hungry, cold, and I had no idea where the nearest town was. I thought even just one of these would make it easier on me. Although, the way he was glaring at me down the length of a shotgun I was also thinking that him not shooting me could be enough too.

"Dear!" the wife said, glaring at her husband. "Stop scaring the poor little thing!"

I didn't protest. Now was definitely not the time whether I was angry at her for calling me "little" or not.

"But-" the farmer started, his wife cutting him off.

"Put your gun down." Her statement turned into a threat as she raised a soup ladle.

He lowered his gun and I let out my breath. I hadn't realized that I'd been holding it.

The wife rushed over to me. "You poor little dear, let's get you in some clothes and something warm to eat. You can tell me all that happened afterwards, alright?" She rushed me inside, not waiting for me to reply.

The farmer rubbed the back of his head and sighed, following us in.

"Dear, I'm going to give him some of your old clothes."

"Fine, fine," he grumbled at her. I knew his position. It was the same one I always ended up in whenever Winry was around.

I was feeling much better by the time I'd finished dressing. Mrs. Starling, the farmer's wife, was actually quite kind. She'd just given me an entire outfit, underwear and all. She laughed as I'd made a face at the underwear.

"Don't worry, I bought these for my husband, but it turned out they were going to be too small. He never had them on."

My new clothes, a pair of jeans with tears in the knees and an old, rumpled plaid shirt boosted my pride by quite a bit. I'd walked out of the bedroom to show Mrs. Starling with a huge smile on my face.

"Thanks a ton."

"You can't like those old things." She smiled back.

"They're clothes. I like them."

She led me downstairs. Mr. Starling was sitting at the kitchen table cleaning his shotgun.

"For goodness sakes dear, do you have to do that now?"

"I'm going to do it now Nan."

"You old brute."

I got the feeling this was a common conversation between the two as Mr. Starling humph'ed at her. It wasn't a real fight or anything, just something like teasing. I stood awkwardly in the hallway, in the doorway of the kitchen.

Without looking up Mr. Starling said, "Sit down, boy. You're making Nan nervous."

"Thank you," I muttered as I sat down across from him.

Nobody talked until Mr. Starling asked me my age.

"I'm sixteen… sir." I couldn't remember the last time I'd called anyone sir.

He looked up at me suddenly. "Don't be so tense boy! Just be yourself."

I wasn't sure how to respond as Mrs. Starling spoke up. "You're older than I thought, but you're still a boy. How about you tell us where you're from? We'll get you home if you wait for the end of the month when we go into town."

"I live really far away."

"Don't worry about that, a vacation wouldn't hurt us."

"No, I mean really far away. It's impossible for me to go home."

Mr. Starling spoke up again, putting his gun down this time. "You got here, didn't you? You can get back."

I lowered my head. I knew it'd sound crazy if I told them the truth. "No. I can't go back. I'm sure of it."

"Then you have somewhere you're headed to?"

I shook my head. "To tell the truth I'm not even sure where I am exactly."

Mrs. Starling gasped. I was looking at the table but I could tell she and her husband exchanged looks.

"You can just point me towards the nearest town. I'll walk."

I was surprised when Mr. Starling laughed. "What do you take us for? We aren't going to just let you walk for that many miles, it'd take days! You just said yourself that you don't even have anywhere to go. Look, we ain't got any kids, so there's plenty of room in this house. You're welcome to stay for as long as you like."

My head snapped up and I gapped at him. He couldn't mean that. Mrs. Starling sat a plate in front of me. She was smiling at me.

"If you'd like to stay that is," she said. "We'd love to have you as part of the family." She sat down with her own plate and her husband's. "Go ahead and eat."

I started eating, thinking about their offer. My Dad was somewhere in this world, wasn't he? What had the name of that town been? Landon? No. It was London. If I could just get to London…

Mr. Starling asked suddenly, his mouth full of food. "So, boy, you know our names and where we live, how about your name and where you're from?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Edward Elric the… um… well, you call just call me Ed." I'd been about to call myself the Fullmetal Alchemist…

"Well, Ed? Where are you from?" Mr. Starling urged, his mouth still full. Mrs. Starling hit him on the knee this time for it.

I smirked, "I don't know where I am, remember? If you want to know where I'm from, you have to tell me where this is."

Mr. Starling actually laughed. He was turning out to be a pretty laid back type of guy. "I see you're loosening up a bit. That's good. Well, boy, you're in Kansas. Near Wichita."

It didn't mean much to me, but I'm sure it would if I saw a map. "Well," avoided saying Amestris, but figuring they wouldn't know whether Resembool was a real town or not since it was so small I said, "I'm from Resembool. It's near London."

They both gasped.

Mrs. Starling, a wide-eyed look on her face asked hurriedly, "As in England?"

I nodded, figuring that was probably it. "Yeah. You know, London, it's a big city. It…" I tried to think of more information about it so I could verify, "it just got bombed recently."

Mrs. Starling's worried expression bothered me. "You must be so worried about your family! And what do they think happened to you I wonder?"

Mr. Starling was glaring at me again. "You don't sound English."

"I was only in England for a short time. I've been travelling around for a few years now. I'm certain that my family thinks I'm dead."

The rest of the meal went in silence, but not until after Mr. Starling made it clear I was to tell him more tomorrow.

Mrs. Starling let me sleep on the couch that night saying that she hadn't cleaned the spare bedroom in over a year and it wasn't a place fit for anyone to sleep in.

* * *

Morning was quite interesting. I sat up rubbing my eyes.

"Morning, Al." I said, expecting to hear the clanking of Al's armor and a happy response. When it didn't come I looked for him. "Al?"

The memories of the fight and where I was came back to me. I tried not to think about what had happened to Al.

I smoothed out the clothes I was wearing. I hadn't changed to sleep. The smell of something cooking drifted in from the kitchen. I'd go see after I washed up for the day.

I wasn't too surprised to find both of the Starlings in the kitchen. Mrs. Starling was making breakfast while Mr. Starling was cleaning his gun again.

"Oh, just in time!" Mrs. Starling said, smiling at me.

Mr. Starling laughed. "Just in time? He got up pretty late. Not to mention the muttering." It didn't surprise me. Al said I talked in my sleep all the time, and they're room was right across the hallway from the living room. It was a relatively small house.

"Dear! You can tell he's been through a lot!"

"Yeah, yeah."

I sat down at the table, not waiting to be asked this time. "What was I saying?"

"You were cursing up a storm! Something about envying someone or something like that. I'm surprised you knew some of those words."

"Oh. Sorry."

Mr. Starling raised his eyebrow at me. "Look here, I can tell you aren't usually this… docile. Especially after last night! Whatever it is bringing you down, move on already. You're going to help me outside today too."

I nodded. Seemed like equivalent exchange to me.

"Why'd you leave your family?" Mr. Starling asked.

"I didn't mean to. I… was taken away. I suppose I deserved it though." I cringed as my right arm throbbed, overworked from such a small amount of working in the field. I was sure that it would have felt much worse had Wrath not been keeping it in shape. My leg was still doing alright.

"Now how could you deserve being kidnapped?"

I didn't look at Mr. Starling as I continued the field work. "I got my little brother killed."

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Did you help someone kill him?"

"Of course not!" I yelled, my anger rising suddenly.

"Then it wasn't your fault boy."

"My name is 'Ed' not 'boy.'"

Mr. Starling laughed at me and continued working. I looked at him for a moment.

"_Not my fault? Ha._" I began working again. Whether it was my fault or not Al would still kill me if I didn't keep moving forward. I was certain he hadn't tried to bring me back just to have me sit around.

The sun was starting to go down. It was about the time I'd arrived the previous day.

"It's time to go in for the day."

I nodded, about to follow Mr. Starling when I had to do a double take. The field I'd been looking at all day was bursting apart into dust. I realized that the strange phenomenon was in a circle, all around me.

"Boy?"

Mr. Starling sounded distant. The world was disappearing fast. They sky was already gone, the farmhouse where Mrs. Starling was gone. Mr. Starling didn't seem to notice.

I turned to him, yelling for him to watch out as the world fell away from him. He burst with it. My last glimpse of him was his look of surprise.

I shut my eyes tight as the ground beneath my feet shattered into dust and fell away.

Standing still for what seemed like hours, I opened my eyes. For a moment I thought I'd find myself facing the gate, but instead I found myself on a sidewalk. Just as the ground had fallen away from me moments before, the ground here was forming from the dust. It came together quickly, sounds and people coming into existence before me as the world widened.

I stood with my mouth gaping open. Cars, if that's what they were, were gliding by me, not touching the ground. More people than I'd ever seen in my life were milling around, dressed in some of the skimpiest and strangest clothes I'd ever seen. Most of them were holding small rectangular things, talking into them or running their fingers across them.

A few teenagers around my age walked by, swaggering in a strange manner, their underwear showing. They snickered at me.

"Look at that, an old style hillbilly bumkin!"

Another one of the boys yelled over his shoulder at me. "What century are you from, loser? The twentieth?" Their laughter struck hard. I was from the twentieth century, which meant that if that was an insult, I wasn't in the twentieth century.

I leaned against the building and took a deep breath. I was feeling dizzy from the mass amount of movement. I looked up, trying to look away from in all.

"Holy…" I felt a serious case of vertigo, wishing I hadn't looked up. The buildings were absolutely huge, and there was more than one of them.

A man in a suit walked up to me. "You ok there kid? You don't look like you're from around here."

I tried to answer, but I couldn't find the words. My glance shifted back towards the sky, towards the building tops. The man looked too.

"You have never seen a skyscraper before? Jeez kid, where are you from? Kansas?"

I nodded. At the moment I really didn't care. The man blanched.

"Oh. Sorry about that. I didn't mean any disrespect… Well, welcome to New York?"

I didn't answer as I closed my eyes and sat down. This was way too much for me.

The man walked away.

It took awhile for me to get over the motion sickness.

"_This is going way over my head… what the hell happened to get me here?_"

I walked around for a bit before I realized that the sun had gone down. It was still so bright I hadn't noticed.

"_Wonder what year it is?_"

I walked down an alley, taking a shortcut to the street across. That was a bad idea, and I found that out quickly.

Someone grabbed me from behind, picking me clear off of my feet by my waist.

"Let me go damn it!" I tried getting in a few good punches but the man didn't drop me.

The man laughed. "You know some self defense. How cute."

I was flipped upside down. The man was holding me by my ankles now. He shook me.

He cursed when nothing fell from my pockets. He let me dangle there for a moment before hoisting me back under his arm, holding me at the waist again.

It had never occurred to me until now that my automail had probably made it a lot harder for… giant guys… like this to fling me around. Automail was heavy after all. Not to mention the extra force I could lay into people with while using it.

With his other arm he picked up a bag. I couldn't tell what was in it.

He walked out of the alley with me and we weaved through the crowds. He didn't seem to care whether he was smashing me into benches and people as we went along at his breakneck speed.

I cursed as I had to deflect myself away from a street light.

"What the hell are you doing? Put me down!"

"Shut up shrimp."

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?" I yelled, flailing around. I kicked him a few times, but it didn't do more than make him ram me into another street light.

The sound of sirens were getting closer. The man cursed and broke into a run.

I looked dazedly at his bag. "What'd you do, rob a bank?"

He laughed. "You got it small fry."

"I'M NOT SMALL!"

"You're a perfect hostage."

I sighed. Why did this always happen to me? It was obvious I had some of the worst luck in the whole world. The moment I was touching the ground I was going to beat this guy to a pulp.


	2. Chapter 2

I hadn't expected so many flashing lights as the source of the sirens came into view. Multiple cars with blue and red lights on top of them came hurtling around various corners, the other cars on the road pulling over and stopping, getting out of their way. They came to abrupt halts as they formed a semi circle around the man and I, trapping us between them and yet another large building.

The man stopped and held me up, seeing that there was nowhere to run. A gun suddenly at my head I knew that he'd expected this. I could see him out of the corner of my eyes and the gun looked like just any old gun. I supposed if it already did the job of killing someone just fine you couldn't make it much better. The man looked like he was ready to die.

At first I had thought they were military but when the cars pulled closer they all said "police" on the sides. I knew almost right away that somehow or another the government here was different.

The man screamed at the police jumping from their cars, drawing their weapons.

"Don't any of you move or the kid gets it!"

I snickered. My laughter made the man shift uneasily.

"Hey, this isn't funny brat," he muttered at me.

I glanced back at the gun. I didn't know much about guns, but I knew enough. The man obviously didn't know anything. The safety was still on.

I twisted in his grasp, knocking the weapon from his hand. I noted that he hadn't even tried to pull the trigger.

The police moved in quickly and the man dropped me to the ground, giving up without much of a fight.

I was ushered away while being battered with sappy statements like "You'll be alright now" and "You were pretty brave there." Another, who I guessed must have been higher ranking than the rest, said, "You could have gotten yourself killed, stupid brat."

The criminal was pushed into the back seat of one of the many cars. I was pretty happy about that. My day had been bad enough without his help.

Then he was gone. He'd been driven off to who knew where.

I was pushed into a police car. The man who took the driver's seat looked back at me through some glass. When he spoke I could still hear him clearly.

"So, where do you live? I'll take you home."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "I don't live in this city."

"Then where are you staying?"

"I don't know, a park?"

The look the man gave me was one of exasperation. "Are you telling me that you're a runaway?"

"No! I'm not a runaway, I got… forcefully taken here?"

"I can see that you got taken by our robber. Now where do you live?"

"Seriously. That was a side track on my other problem."

The man in front of me started laughing. "Are you saying you got kidnapped while being kidnapped?"

I thought about that. It wasn't really true, but it worked. "Yes?"

He stopped laughing. "Are you sure of that?"

"I'm from London…"

"F-from London? It's almost impossible to get in or out of London! Of course, kidnapping the people there for their special, genetically unique… parts… has big business." The glass between us swished into non-existence. The man leaned closer. His eyes widened. "Golden eyes!"

He turned and picked up one of the small rectangles everyone else seemed to have.

"Chief, we have a problem! I've picked up a kid from London… That's right, London!"

Feeling that maybe this was getting a little out of hand I tried to speak up. "H-hey…"

"You want proof? The kid has got golden eyes!"

"They aren't gold. They're-"

"You want me to bring him in?"

"-Light brown." If he didn't stop ignoring me…

"Alright, I'll have him there shortly."

"Hey."

"Over and out."

"Hey!"

The man jumped and turned. "What?"

"Uh…" I wasn't sure what else to say.

"You have to use the restroom or something?"

"No… just… never mind."

"I'm Officer John Swander, nice to meet you. I've got to take you in to the station, 'k?"

I sighed. "Whatever."

As the car began moving I decided that holding on would be a good idea. It seemed to move much faster now that I was in it. I found the seat belt easily enough after I figured out what it looked like in this type of car.

By the time the car came to a stop I wanted to take it apart. I laughed a bit to myself thinking that this was a very Winry like feeling. The car had glided here without a single jostle from bumps in the road (not that it touched the road anyways). It had even taken the turns at high speeds without tipping over or sending me flying out of the car. Considering the car was made to carry criminals even the seats were squishy. I wanted to be able to create one for myself when I arrived back home.

Home. Would I manage to even get back? What about Al?

"Hey, kid! I unlocked the door already, you can get out now."

I nodded and got out of the car. I steadied myself for entering the large building. The station, at least, might have been smaller than Headquarters.

The next few days put me through hell. After I'd given multiple people my name I'd been made to wait in a lounge. The Police Chief soon came in, not an hour later, and slammed his fists on the table in front of me. There was no record of me living in London. There was no record of me, period.

That had gotten me the chat about giving my full, real name. When I insisted that I'd told him my full, real name, I got the chat about how it was apparently illegal not to be registered. Then he asked me to fill out some registration forms to show I existed or something. He stood and watched me fill them out.

Name: Edward Elric

Age: 16

Date of Birth:

I froze. I didn't even know what year I was in and I was still certain that I couldn't get by with putting February 3, 1899. (1) I was pretty sure I wouldn't get by with saying I was over 100.

I ended up not putting a year down and continuing.

Eye color: Light Brown

The Chief yelled and me and made me write Gold instead.

Hair color: Blonde

Once again I was forced into changing it to gold.

The entire registration went on like that. Finally he took the finished paperwork and left me there, starving at this point, to sit and wait.

I fell asleep only to wake up to Officer John Swander putting a plate with toast in front of me and a glass of milk. His shift was over and he went home. I was thirsty but no one would get me anything else. I drank the wretched crap. The toast was hardly enough to fill me up either.

I was shown where the restrooms were but told to stay in the waiting room as much as I could. By the end of the third day I was seriously unhappy. So was the Police Chief.

"You aren't really from London, are you Elric? If that's your real name?"

"For the last fucking time, I am Edward Elric and I am from London!"

"If you want to lie, fine. We'll prove your identity using the tests."

I asked in a bored tone, "Tests?"

Before I knew what was happening I was ushered into a car and taken to what could only be a hospital.

The inside was white and smelled like sickness. Oh goodie, with all of the improvements they still couldn't bother to make the place blue at least.

I sucked up any fear I felt at the multiple needles. Some of which took my blood and others, later on, began injecting various things into me.

One nurse, as she put something in me commented, "Goodness! You have multiple vitamin deficiencies and your bones lack the proper amount of calcium! You must get sick a lot." I scoffed at her. "Not to mention how badly worn your muscles are!"

I was laying in a bed, hospital gown on and IV (I hated the thing) in my arm with various attachments to it all dripping into me on top of all of the other injections, when the Police Chief came in.

He stood by me for a moment, shifting awkwardly. "It seems the doctors all agree you're telling the truth. Unless you've been put through the various bodily experiments they do on the citizens on London there's no way you'd be in such horrible shape. The doctors told me that they seem to have had you on a diet and physical training regimen used before the first world war. It must have been tough, but they'll have you fixed up in a few days.

I'll post a few guards for your room. Rest easy and get better." And so he left. I was left feeling kind of worthless. Everyone was insulting my physical prowess that'd I'd worked so hard on over the years.

I went and looked it up. It was this or October 11, 1899 and after reading all the reasons it could or couldn't be either I was just like, I'll make Ed older.


	3. Chapter 3

After the Chief had left I hadn't seen any police for several days, but I did see nurse after nurse and a few doctors, all making me take one vitamin or another or changing whatever it was in the IV. They wouldn't let me leave the bed they'd assigned me other than to use the restroom, which was in a small room attached to the room I'd been given. When I'd complained of being bored a nurse brought me a large pair of sunglasses. I took them, but when I asked why she'd given me sunglasses it occurred to me that my question probably sounded stupid.

It seemed it had sounded stupid as she gave me an odd look. "You can watch TV on them, of course."

I was embarrassed to ask, but my curiosity was screaming for me to ask. "TV? (1)"

The nurse gaped at me and practically ran to get the doctor.

When the doctor came in, he (2) was reading over my medical charts again.

"Mr. Elric, the nurse is saying you don't know what a TV is?"

"Uh, n-no, I don't."

"Would you know what a cellphone is?"

"…I know what a phone is."

"Would you describe a phone for me?"

I described the dial and large box, how you spoke into the mouth piece that was attached to the main body of the phone and how you lifted the ear piece away.

The doctor nodded and walked out, nodded away. He came back a minute later and showed me a picture of a phone.

"It looked like this?"

"That's right…. Let me guess. This is really old?"

"You know what a radio is?"

"Yeah, I know what a radio is."

"I see…"

"Look, I'm not stupid. I'm obviously behind on what sort of technology there is, but that's not my fault. I grew up… differently I guess."

"I'm going to ask bluntly, Mr. Elric. On your registration paperwork, you didn't fill out your date of birth. From what you've said so far, and your medical condition, it seems to me that you were raised in a data camp. Is that correct?"

I groaned. "Data camp?"

"They raise you to believe you live in a certain time period… for historical purposes."

I shrugged. If something like that existed, it sounded like my best bet to lie. "I guess so, then. Now, could you explain what 'this' is?" I waved the sunglasses… TV. This question was causing me a lot of trouble considering the answer was probably simple.

"Mr. Elric, this is important. If you are from a Data camp, you won't be able to go home. You've… seen too much."

"I don't have a home anyways."

The doctor seemed shaken. "You… you're a brave young man."

I laid back against my pillows. "Look, all I wanted to know was what the heck a TV is and how to use this. Ok?"

The doctor looked at me like I was going to die or something before explaining. He'd either given up or forgotten to ask again what year I was born in.

The TV kept me occupied over the remaining days that I was supposed to stay in the hospital, more because I was trying to figure out how it worked rather than watching anything on it though. By the time the police chief came to check me out I'd more than had enough of needles and milk, which was all they had been making me drink because of the "calcium deficiencies." I practically made the nurse rip the IV out of my hand.

As the police chief led me from the building, explaining that I was now going to be considered an orphan, Officer Swander jogged up to us.

"Sir, you wanted me for something urgent?"

"Ah, yes. Good timing, Swander. I'd like you to be the one to take care of the lad until we've got things worked out." The chief patted me on the shoulder. I shrugged his hand off, glared at him.

"Handing me off to one of your lackeys? Typical."

The chief laughed. "No, I'm handing you off to a friend, understand?" As the chief said 'friend' I felt the usual chill go down my spine. The man was practically screaming the fact that Swander would get promoted if he took me in.

I sighed, not having very many other options. "Fine, I'll go with your pawn."

"H-hey now…" Swander said, sweating a little.

"Take good care of him, Swander," Chief said as he walked off, laughing. This time it had been a threat to Swander's job instead of a bribe.

So I actually went willingly with Swander as he grudgingly asked me to follow him to his car. Considering how many times Swander had already ignored me, I thought it was pretty funny to watch him not be able to get a word in.

I didn't talk to him as he drove me back to his place, which turned out to be a rundown apartment in what even I thought to be a ragged part of town. The inside of his apartment wasn't any better than the outside. The furniture was old and had various stains on them, and one of the windows was broken and boarded up. The only nice thing in the room was a large, black, flat piece of glass on the wall. It had looked like a poster at first, until Swander turned it on and I realized that it was a television. A TV… a big one. He gave me some old pillows and a blanket and told me to make myself at home on the couch.

We got to talking as Swander started making dinner for the both of us.

"Are you alright with cup ramen, Edward?"

"Probably."

"You've never had cup ramen before?" he shook the plastic (plastic was everywhere it seemed) container at me that had a picture of noodles on it.

"I haven't had 'cup' ramen before."

Swander shrugged and had used a 'microwave' to boil water before pouring it into the cups. He handed me my cup shortly after.

"It's already done?"

"The wonders of cup noodles. Would you like a Twinkie with that as desert?"

"Uh. Sure?"

That night I discovered that I very much liked Twinkies and cup noodles. Not to mention that Swander started having some fun by throwing various packaged foods from his pantry at me and having me eat them. He seemed to feel that it was his duty to make sure I knew the common 'junk' foods. I didn't mind at all.

I went to sleep with the worst (3)stomach ache I had ever had (not counting being stabbed through the stomach by Envy). Swander wasn't so bad after he actually started listening to me. The stomach ache stopped me from thinking about how I'd managed to get here from the farm, like I had been thinking about the last week while laying in a _hospital bed_.

I woke up, freezing. At least my stomach ache had finally gone.

As I sat up on Swander's couch, I realized …. Swander's apartment…. Was also gone.

I'm pretty sure there weren't any TVs around in Ed's world. Just radios.

Yes, I know I'm being very stereotypical, but it's just easier that way.

If you eat tons of junk food, you usually start to feel sick, right? Now picture Ed, who's had a lack of preservatives and high fructose syrup in his diet due to his time period, and just imagine the stomach that would cause…. O.O

Lookie~ I updated~


	4. Chapter 4

"What? The? HELL?" was my first reaction. The blankets and the couch had kept me warm enough, but it was cold out in the brisk morning air. There shouldn't have been any brisk morning air in the first place, but as I looked around there wasn't any apartment to see. Just a bunch of trees.

I shivered and pulled the blanket closer. I was only wearing a pair of Swander's pajamas that he'd leant me, but at least it consisted of cotton pants and a long sleeved shirt. I didn't have shoes on since I'd been sleeping, but I'd kept my socks on.

It occurred to me that something similar to when I'd been whisked away from (1)Mr. Starling's farm must have happened again while I'd been asleep. It was disturbing to think that I wouldn't wake up for something like that.

I didn't move from the couch or the blanket as the day wore on. I just didn't feel motivated enough to leave the comfy cushions and the warmth to walk around in my socks just so that I could get lost in the woods. My stomach growled, but I ignored it. I felt bad that Officer Swander's couch had come with me.

As evening descended I realized that I was actually pretty thirsty… I sighed and took the blanket with me as I walked off, cursing my luck.

I found a stream easily enough and took a handful of water. I drank enough and then walked back to the couch. I'd look for something to eat the next day.

As I fell asleep thinking that it was just my rotten luck that any of this was happening, I started to dream.

Or rather, I remembered something.

* * *

The gate stood before me, an energy filled yellow glow all around, stretching into the distance.

I had just activated the array I'd put together to bring Al back. I was going to give my whole being to the gate if I had to.

The Truth appeared, frowning at me.

"Equivalent Exchange, Edward Elric. You want your brother back, body, mind, and soul."

"Exactly!" I yelled at him. "I'll give you mine, if that's what you want!"

"But you see, your own existence means nothing to you, so it is not worth it."

I was flabbergasted. How could it not be enough? That was everything I had.

"Do you know what is worth the same to you as having your brother back to normal?" I glared at the Truth in response. He just smiled. "Being with your restored brother is worth the same as having him be restored."

"That's the same as me giving up my life!"

"Is it? Do you agree to pay the price?"

"Of course! If it brings Al back…. I'd do anything."

"Then, it is done. Your ability to be with your brother is gone. Of course, this is a little…. Too much maybe. I'll have to give you something in return… You like adventure, don't you?"

* * *

I woke up in a cold sweat, staring at the stars…. And two moons. I hardly noticed the addition of another moon as I sat up, thinking I needed a walk.

Adventure. All of this 'bad luck' was supposed to count as adventure. If this counted as something I liked then I hated to see something I didn't like. What bothered me most, after a while, was that as I thought about the idea of going to so many places and seeing things like the sheik, floating cars and trying foods like the ones Officer Swander had given to me, I actually liked the idea. I had enjoyed traveling with Al. He'd thought it was hard on me, but I hadn't minded so much because I'd wanted to get his body back…. And I had fun traveling.

I made up my mind that I wouldn't let the Truth get his way. I'd get back to Alphonse if it was the last thing I'd do.

As I walked on, blanket wrapped tightly around me, my left foot hurting, I realized something else. I could see a light up ahead. A camp fire. More accurately, a dying camp fire.

I approached it quietly, trying to see what type of people were laying around it. There was a rustle from behind me, but before I could turn I heard the safety on a gun click. The barrel was pushed up to the back of my head.

"Wha'chu doin' out 'ere in da dead o' night, lad?" asked a gruff voice. (Didn't catch all that? I'll number off this guy's lines and put a grammar correct sentence at the end…. This is #1. I don't think you'll need it, but just in case.)

I dropped my blanket and put my hands in the air, my mind working fast to think of a way out of this.

"I'm travelling… I lost my gear last night… all I have left is this blanket. I was wondering if I could sit next to your fire?"

"Yo' city folk? Yo' sure talk like one." (#2)

"Yeah, I'm from the city." "_No use saying otherwise._"

"Tch. No kiddin'? I ain't surprised yo' junk got took." (#3) The man lowered the gun and stepped around to look at me. He was unshaven and had a few missing teeth. He glowered at me before waving me towards the fire. "Go an' git yo'self comfy." (#4)

I picked up my blanket and walked to the fire, glancing sideways at the sleeping form of a women and a few children. They must be the man's family. A covered wagon sat nearby, horses kept in sight.

I tried not to talk about anything that the family wouldn't know about. They had all woken up early and piled into their wagon. The couple invited to give me a ride to the next town and feed me, if I gave them my blanket. It was a "fine blanket." I agreed. It wasn't really my blanket anyways, but I was pretty sure I couldn't get it back to the officer.

It hadn't occurred to me just how much the family was doing for me when I'd agreed. I'd been helping them with hunting and taking care of the many children. The next town had been a whole month's journey away. I couldn't believe that my blanket was worth that much, and when I'd asked if there was anything I else I could do they'd laughed at me. Such fine cotton, not to mention all of the work it would have taken to make the floral pattern in the blanket and the cost of dyes made it worth the ride.

I sighed as I waved the family off the next morning as they continued on their journey. They were moving across country.

I scratched my head as I wondered how I'd get by in the small, dusty town. It didn't even have its own name, but it was the only town for any distance in either direction. The people made their living by farming, hunting, and selling and trading with those who passed through. I talked to the man in charge and he hired me on the spot and gave me a place to board. I'd pay for my stay and food with work.

I sighed. I had just finished another day's work, herding the cattle out to pasture and then back again, just like I had done every day since I'd arrived. I still wore the pajamas as if they were everyday clothes, nobody seeming to understand that they weren't work clothes. I had asked a few people what they thought of my outfit and they'd all said something like "Those sure are some fancy fighting clothes." I guessed the uniform for the military here was similar or something.

That's when I heard a commotion from the house. I trotted over to see what was up.

"There you are, Edward!" The mayor called joyously to me. "We've got visitors in town. It's my duty to greet them, but how about you come with?"

I shrugged, smiling. "Sure, why not?" I'd been bored out of my mind lately, and this could prove to be fun.

The visitors were a group of five men, each on a horse that was pulling a cow along. Five men, five horses, five cows, and five… guns. There were no townspeople in the streets when we arrived, minus the little boy that lived in one of the houses and his mother. The mother was being help by her hair by one of the lackies of the group. The leader had the boy, his gun pressed to the boy's head.

The leader laughed. "It's about time you showed up, mayor." (These are bad guys, but just picture a similar accent to the one I used earlier… I don't want to mess with it again. My brain doesn't work in that way.) "We'll be on our way, quick enough. We'd like food for our trip, your money, and fresh horses. In return we'll let the boy and his ma go unharmed."

The mayor seemed speechless. I doubted he had to deal with this sort of situation much when he was so far out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

I'd been wondering about that 'adventure' part of being here for so long. Now I knew I'd just been waiting for the adventure to finally get here. Maybe I'd been close to them when I had arrived and hadn't noticed.

I cracked my knuckles. My right arm and left leg were no longer weak after all of the manual labor I'd been doing for the last month working on the ranch the mayor owned. Not to mention that I really did feel healthier after the treatment I'd received in the hospital in New York for a week.

I was ready to fight. The mayor, however, was off to get what he thought would be plenty of food and money for the men. He would probably bring back the horses they wanted too.

The moment the mayor had run off the man holding the woman got off his horse. "Ya'll up for some fun?" he asked his teammates, licking his lips. The other men got off their own horses to join him. Only the leader stayed on his horse, boy still held in his grasp. He glared at me as I glared right back at him.

He smirked and I watched, almost in slow motion, as he cocked his gun. I wouldn't be able to get to him in time to stop him from firing. Out of pure habit, I clapped my hands together.

A bolt of blue electricity, almost resembling alchemical discharge, shot from my hands and struck the man in the chest. He was sent flying backwards off of his horse. The boy dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The leader twitched, knocked out.

The others could do nothing but watch in shock.

One of them whispered, "M-magic? I-I thought only trained knights could use magic….?"

I looked quickly to the sky at the faint moons that were starting to appear as the day faded. Different world, different rules.

My attention snapped back to the remaining four men. I clapped again and watched them collapse as more blue lightning hit them. I managed to control it enough that it didn't hit the woman. I wasn't surprised that she had fainted.

The town's people all rushed out of their homes, apparently they'd been watching. Someone went to fetch the mayor who rushed back in a hurry.

"Edward! You never mentioned being able to control magic!" one of the townsmen said. I knew everyone in town by this point.

"Uh.." I scratched my head, "I didn't know I could." I didn't say that I hadn't known magic had even existed.

One of the women spoke up. "But you did it so….. so certainly."

"I, uh, used to clap before beginning a fight because my teacher said I should. It was habit, not knowledge."

As the town's folk talked to me the woman who had passed out was taken into a house to be treated for any possible injuries. The little boy was also taken inside.

Some of the men in the town brought rope to tie the unconscious villains up before they awoke. There wasn't any prison in the town so someone would have to haul the gang over to the next town.

The world around me began to turn to dust, the world's shattering starting at the edge of what I could see and coming closer. The mayor hadn't arrived yet, and I wouldn't get to say goodbye. I smiled and took a step back from the people around me. I gave a small wave to them before they disappeared. I wondered if it looked like I was the one who shattered to them.

* * *

Read and Review like you always should~ :3

Remember the farmer and his wife from chapter one? Yeah, Ed's referencing them.

Did you notice that Ed is starting to enjoy himself? It's been a few months for him at this point and now he knows Al is fine. It only took him until chapter 4 to remember his meeting with the Truth lol.

#1: What are you doing out here in the dead of night, kid?

#2: You're from the city? You sure talk like you are.

#3: Tsk. No kidding? I'm not surprised your things were stolen.

#4: Go and get yourself comfortable.


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